Friday, September 18, 2015

Helping your child with spelling during writing can get
tricky. How do I help them without making them become completely dependent on
me to spell word for them? Here are some tip to help!

Word Walls – a word
wall can be a great resource for your student! They often have these in brick
and mortar classrooms and you can create your own at home! You can use a wall,
poster board, folder, the side of the refrigerator, or even the back of a door!
This alphabetical list of words will provide a constant resource for your
student. As your child masters sight words, they can be added to the wall. As
they learn and explore new vocabulary, it can be added.

Personal Student
Dictionary – your student can create their very own dictionary! When they
need a word spelled for them, help them look the word up in a kid-friendly
dictionary. Or, this may be a time to spell the word for them. Have the student
write the word in their own dictionary. They will now have another resource to
turn to when they are struggling to spell!

Help Sound Stretch
– encourage your student’s use of phonetic spelling. When a student asks you to
spell the word for them, tell them that you will help them sound stretch it.
Slowly stretch out the sounds in the word and have the student write down
whatever sounds they hear.

Weekly Spelling List
– give your student a weekly spelling list. You can get these words from the
writing or vocabulary units on the OLS. Have your student write the words in
fun ways (rainbow write with markers, sidewalk chalk, letter tiles, shaving
cream, etc.) and use the words in sentences. They can add these words to their
word wall or dictionary.

Word Banks – when
your student is going to have to write on a topic, have them tell you 4-5 words
they think they will need to know how to spell while writing. Write the words
out for them (maybe even add a picture) and then make them refer to the word
bank. They need to phonetically spell all other words (or use their other
resources). You can also do this while you are reading – have your student pick
words out of the text that they know are important.

Sight Words –
your student should work to memorize sight words. They should be able to spell
sight words by locating them on a word wall or by automatically knowing them.
Practice, practice, practice! I used to play a mystery game in my classroom
where I would give them letter tiles to spell a sight word and they had to
unscramble the letters and figure out which word the letters spelled. Sight
word games can be as easy as shooting a ball or paper wad into a trash can.
Have your student read or spell a sight word and if they read / spell it
correctly, they get to shoot a basket!

Friday, September 11, 2015

It can be difficult
to know how to support your student during their independent reading time. Here
are some tips!

Provide wait time.

Allow your student
time to try it on their own. If given the word every time, they’ll come to
expect that.

Give prompts or clues
as needed, such as:

Try that again.

Does that make sense? What word
would make sense there?

Look at how the word begins.

What reading strategy could you
try?

Go back and reread and think about what
sounds right and looks right.

Look at the picture. What’s
happening?

What could you do to help yourself?=

Look at the parts of chunks in the
word.

Do you know something about that
word to help you?

Tell students what
they do well! Give specific and positive feedback!

I like
the way you made each word match with your finger.

You
went back and fixed that tricky part, didn’t you? Good checking!

You were really thinking when you
let the word _____, which you know, help you with the word _____. Great job!
That’s what good readers do!

Let your student make
mistakes. It is part of the learning process.

For example, if your student reads
a word wrong – instead of saying ‘no’ and stopping them after every word they
get wrong, let them get to the end of the page. Then ask them a question like “you
said ______ here, did that make sense?” It can be discouraging for students to
be stopped after every missed word. L

If your student often
skips words – encourage them to touch each word with their finger or pointer
while they read.

Have your student
record and listen to themselves on Raz-Kids.

Help your student
pick books that they can read independently.

The rule of thumb for independent
reading level is if there are 5 or more words on the page your student cannot
read, than it is too difficult for an independent read.

Monday, August 31, 2015

As students are beginning the writing process, there are some tips to
keep in mind.

It may be a good idea
to develop some sort of ‘word wall’ - whether it be on a poster board, in a file folder, or on an actual wall. On this wall, have the student help you put
the words of friends and sight words. They can refer to this resource often when
writing.

Instead of spelling
the words for your student—encourage invented spelling. Help your student sound stretch. If
they aren't’ sure which letter sound, have an alphabet chart available or them to refer to. The
more you spell words for them, the more they will come to expect it. Try to have your student write as independently as possible.

Have your student
practice telling about their illustrations—the more elaborate the explanation, the better.

Modeling is the best
way for a student to learn writing. Try
writing a sentence together each day. Let them watch
how you start your sentence with a capital letter, leave spaces between words, add punctuation at the end of your sentence, and use
your best ‘first grade handwriting.’ Then have them try a sentence on their own.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

If you have never read Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary, you are in for a treat! During book club for the next several weeks - we will be spending time with Ramona. We'll get to spend some time in her shoes and enjoy her wild imagination!

Remember, you'll be receiving credit on the OLS for a lesson every time you attend! In the OLS - there are two "you choose" units. We'll be completing this one together in book club! Can't beat that! I can't wait to see you there!

Friday, August 14, 2015

Welcome to 1st Grade! I'm so excited to have you in my homeroom this year! I can't wait to get to know more about you! Be sure to check out this video to learn a little bit more about me!

It can get rough getting back into the swing of things after summer break. Milo TOTALLY understands!

The best thing you can do is create a schedule - and stick to it! Hang in there - you're going to do GREAT! Remember that I am here to help you - don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need anything.